


My Father's Love

by wisia



Category: DCU
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family Drama, Gen, M/M, al Ghul Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-17
Updated: 2014-08-10
Packaged: 2017-12-08 18:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,839
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/764320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wisia/pseuds/wisia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A modern AU where Ra’s’ kids deal with him on a regular basis. They are, of course, horrified by Ra’s’ love problems.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I warn for out of character. They may not be posted in chronological order, so if I update, it will be edited to reflect chronological order here.

               Talia paused at the kitchen entrance. She wasn’t sure she wanted to enter. There was a thick tension in the air, and her father was sitting at the source of it. Well, emitting it, Talia revised. Ra’s al Ghul took center stage in the large airy kitchen, a laptop in front of him on the marble counter. He had on a pair of spectacles and was glaring at the screen with a fierce expression. It was a look he normally reserved for the boardroom, so Talia slowly backed up only to bump into Nyssa.

                “I don’t think you want to go in there,” Talia whispered instead of apologizing. Nyssa arched the patented al Ghul eyebrow in response.

                “He’s in a mood,” Talia clarified and peeked again. There was now an impressive scowl on her father’s face. Nyssa shoved her lightly out of the way, stalking into the kitchen with her indomitable presence.

                “Morning,” she said briskly, heading straight for the coffeepot.

                “Nyssa,” Ra’s acknowledged. His voice was tight, and Talia sighed as Nyssa beckoned her in with a slight crook of her fingers behind Ra’s.

                “Good morning,” Talia said and hurried to the toaster in quick strides. The faster she ate, the faster she could get out. It might have been stupid for a grown woman to be afraid of her father, but nobody crossed Ra’s al Ghul.

                “Talia,” Ra’s greeted, and his fingers were flying furiously across the keys. A maniacal grin erupted on her father’s face. Talia wondered if she should give up on bagels for breakfast. It would take far too long to toast with her father like that. She pushed the slices in anyway and winced as Ra’s growled suddenly. The tapping was more furious now.

                “So,” Nyssa said bluntly as she finished the last of her coffee. “Did you lose last night’s poker game?”

                Ra’s looked at her, annoyed. He pulled off his spectacles, folded them and placed them carefully into his jacket’s pocket.

                “Don’t be silly. I never lose,” Ra’s said. He closed his laptop with a click. “I will see you both at the office and—“ Ra’s spoke louder, “Dusan—you cannot avoid it. You have to come to the meeting at four.”

                He smiled at them as he got up. “Do have a good day.”

                Talia and Nyssa exchanged a look as Ra’s stepped out the door.

                “Smiling isn’t good, right?” Talia said as the toaster dinged.

                “Never,” Nyssa shook her head. “I feel sorry for the poor sap. Only a little.”

                “Concur,” Talia agreed. “Do you know who is it?”

                “Tim Wayne.” And Talia jumped as Dusan poked his head from behind the couch where he was hiding.

                “Dusan!”

                He was always popping up from somewhere. It frustrated their father for the longest time because he could disappear and reappear without a moment’s notice.

                “Oh, get used to it,” Nyssa said and rolled her eyes. “Any relation to Bruce Wayne?”

                “Third child,” Dusan replied, sliding into a chair. Talia grumbled as she retrieved her bagel.

                “It’s not yours, is it?” Nyssa asked. Talia choked. “What? No!”

                “You did have Damian—“

                “And only him!” Talia bit into her bagel savagely. Her relationship with Bruce Wayne was heavily scrutinized by the media.

                “It’s his third adopted child,” Dusan elaborated. “The boy’s quite smart, you know.”

                “Wasn’t he Janet Drake’s kid?” Talia wondered.

                “Yeah,” Dusan nodded. “Anyway, he’s driving dad up the wall. Seems the kid is warring with him over the latest in environmental.”

                “Peachy,” Nyssa said. “I guess he’ll be putting in long hours. It’s a miracle he hasn’t landed himself in the hospital yet.”

                “That’s not what’s interesting though,” Dusan said. There was slow sly smile on his lips. “I have reason to believe he harbors affection for the boy.”

                Talia choked on her bagel. Nyssa slapped her on the back.

                “Don’t die,” Nyssa said. “I don’t have time to clean up your side of the company. At least wait a year.”

                Talia shoved Nyssa’s hand away. “My side of the company is perfectly fine. Dusan, don’t make jokes like that.”

                She did not want to imagine their father having sex of any kind whatsoever.

                “I was being perfectly serious.”

                “I’m going to leave now,” Nyssa mused. “Before dad’s plastered across the news as a pedophile. The kid’s barely even twenty.”

                Dusan laughed as Talia pushed her bagel away.


	2. Chapter 2

                “What is taking him so long?” Nyssa said impatiently, tapping her foot. The clock read a quarter till seven. They had to leave now if they didn’t want to be late, and the al Ghuls were always on time. They weren’t like the Waynes who could arrive fashionably late. Or at least Bruce Wayne did, but he was a playboy and a poor example to his kids. Talia shrugged.

                “Dusan said he was dressing.”

                “That was forty minutes ago!”

                “I know,” Talia said. Then she sighed. “I wish Dusan could go instead of us.”

                Dusan was the shy one, and he never entered public unless he had to and by that, Talia meant he was always in disguise. Somehow the press never knew. Nyssa sucked in a deep breath.

                “Okay,” she said. She was calm and at ease. “Let’s go see what’s keeping him up.”

                 They both headed for their father’s room. Nyssa knocked on the door.

                 “Father?”

                  “Come in,” Ra’s called out. Nyssa didn’t know what she was expecting—no, she knew. She was expecting her father to be planning the demise of some corporate idiot or government tool. He always had the best review of plans on nights like these before an event. Nyssa was not expecting this.

                   Ra’s stood before his open closet, a serious look of concentration on his face. He wore only his socks and trousers. On the bed there were several shirt and tie combo laid out for inspection. And Ra’s was pulling out yet another combination to lie next to the rest.

                  “Dad, are you?” Talia’s eyes were round. She was just as surprised as Nyssa by the scene.

                “You’re still not dressed yet.” Nyssa said in her commanding way. It wasn’t a question, and she stepped closer to examine the shirts.

                “I find I am unable to decide tonight,” Ra’s admitted.

                “These are all good choices,” Talia offered as she sidled up next to Nyssa.

                “They do not match with my cape.”

                Nyssa pursed her lips. “The cape? You are going to wear the cape?”

                “Should I not?” Ra’s asked. The cape was his most prized possession among his outfits. It was green and edged in gold—it was made of a heavy sturdy cloth and magnificence on sheer sight. Personally, Nyssa thought he should throw the outdated thing away but the man was stubborn.

                “You won’t listen to me even if I tell you not to wear it.”

                “True,” Ra’s nodded. Then he gestured at the shirts. “Which one suits more?”

                Talia furrowed her eyebrows, and Nyssa was too late to stop her from speaking.

                “This one, but you never have trouble dressing well normally.”

              “There’s important company tonight,” Ra’s replied. “I need to show just what an al Ghul is. Be on your best tonight.”

                That, Nyssa translated in her head, meant Tim Wayne was going to be there. Talia looked down at her dress. It was a deep red in color. Not too bold and not understated. “Is what Nyssa and I are wearing not appropriate?”

                “You are both fine. Lovely.” Ra’s picked up a white button up and tossed it back down. “I will be done in five minutes.”

                That was a dismissal if Nyssa ever heard it, and she quickly ushered Talia out. This was unacceptable. When the door closed, she pulled Talia roughly down the hall.

                “This is problematic.”

                “Is it?” Talia asked.

                “Yes!” Nyssa said as loudly as she dared. “He’s taking over a goddamn hour to dress! Do you not see what’s wrong with that?”

                She had hoped Dusan was wrong in assessing their father’s current affection, but it clearly wasn’t.

                “Well…what do you want to do about it?”

                There was a glint to Nyssa’s eyes as she considered it.

                “You and I are going to survey this Tim Wayne.”

                “We are?”

                “Yes.”

                And tonight’s gala was the perfect time to time to do a risk analysis.


	3. Chapter 3

They were wrong. Absolutely wrong. 

"They’ve been glued to each other for the past two hours," Nyssa hissed, nudging a sharp elbow into Talia’s ribs. "Do something."

"What do you want me to do?" Talia hissed back and rubbed her side as discretely as they could because you never knew where the paparazzi were hiding. They were by the buffet table, hiding the movements of their lips behind a glass of wine and covertly observing their father interact with Timothy Wayne.

"I don’t know," Nyssa said frustrated. "Trip? Father will be so concerned about you falling and will have to leave him to check on you. That would then leave me free to corner the boy."

"I’m not going to make a fool of myself," Talia answered back. She had too much pride for that. Especially when Bruce was there, and Talia had to show just how well she was doing without him. 

Nyssa huffed and took another sip of her drink. She was deep in thoughts, and Talia only knew that whatever plan she had was going to unpleasant. It was what made Nyssa so feared in the corporate world after all.

"Oh my god," Talia gasped as she looked at her father and the boy again. "Is he?"

Because their father had just took Tim Wayne by the wrist and strode them straight into the middle of the room. A beat later, Talia watched with horrified eyes as their father gracefully guided the boy around the room in slow steps.

"They are," Nyssa said in disbelief. Even she couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. Talia closed her eyes and turned her head away.

"I didn’t need to see that."

That was way more of their father’s seducing techniques then they need to know.

"Huh," Nyssa said. "I think father lost a point. The boy just stepped onto his foot. On purpose. Pretty admirable actually to stand up to father."

"Are you still watching them?"

"Of course," Nyssa responded glibly as if it was entirely normal for them to watch their father try to romanticize someone young enough to render him a pedophile.

"How can you watch that? That’s our father!"

"I know," Nyssa said, voice dripping with disgust. "However, if we want to know anything about this boy, we need to watch every single move they make."

Talia sighed as Nyssa took both of their glasses away and deposited it on the table.

"Now," Nyssa said, and Talia knew she wasn’t going to like what she was about to hear. "Go and talk to your Bruce. About your son and inquire about that boy why you are there."

"I don’t want to talk to him."

"You will. It’s a matter of our father’s happiness."


End file.
